I think watching Man V Food continuously on Youtube has had a profound effect on both myself and Steve. So much so, it suddenly feels acceptable to purchase a HUGE 3 Kg piece of pork shoulder, knowing it would just be the two of us enjoying its porky delights!
Yep, watching my new hero, Adam Richman, chomp his way around the States sampling the most grotesquely huge portions of BBQ meat has inspired us to embark on our own supersize feast.
Luckily, Asda had some pretty hefty pieces of British pork shoulder for us to purchase at the time of our visit and we saw this as a sign from the meaty Gods of Gastronomy! So this morning, despite losing a whole hour of sleep (curse you British Summer Time), still in our dressing gowns we started Googling the best way to go about this.
As much as the American's rock their meats, I'm afraid we cannot possibly roast pork without the obligatory thick strips of crispy, crunchy and supremely tasty crackling, hence we thought it better to steer clear of any liquid based marinades. A dry rub it had to be. After a quick read of a couple recipes, the majority of the dry rubs we found contained a mix of smoked paprika, cayenne, mustard powder, salt, pepper, cumin, brown sugar, onion powder and garlic powder. Luckily, the majority of which were already lurking in my spice rack, hurrah!
So the rub we used was pretty much:
Smoked paprika (both hot and sweet varieties)
Cayenne pepper
Mustard Powder
Brown Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Sezchuan Pepper
Fennel Seeds
Rubbed this all over the flesh and sat the meat over a couple cloves of unpeeled garlic.
Now, the method of cooking. However fabulous it would be to BBQ such a hunk of meat, that aint gonna happen in this corner of Doncaster, the oven was the only option. My usual method of cooking roast pork relies on starting the meat off in a searingly hot oven, then turning it down for the majority of the time, then back up for the final 20 mins or so. I've always had mounds of crackling, and super juicy meat using this method so thought, why not!? Had a quick search on www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk for a vague idea for cooking times and temps for a piece of meat of a similar size & came up with approx 30 mins at 220/230 degrees C, then slow and low at 150 degrees C for 6 hours, yep 6 HOURS. After checking with a fork to make sure it's tender and pulls apart easily, we took the beast out of the oven, carefully removed the skin and popped it back in the oven to make some super crispy crackling..oh yes.
Whilst watching MvF, I'd noticed a few of the BBQ places would use a vinegar finishing sauce on the pork to bring out the sweet juiciness of the meat, so I just had to give that a go to. Unfortunately I can't really remember the quantities of ingredients, but it was pretty much:
Equal quantities vinegar to water (about 1/2 a cup of each)
Heaped tsp brown sugar
2 tsp treacle
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
Pinch of dried chilli
generous pinches of smoked paprika and mustard powder
salt & pepper
Dash of A1 steak sauce
Heat all that up until the sugars all dissolved and taste, adjusting if necessary. It needs to be sharp but not too mouth puckering so! Somehow this just emphasized the sweetness of the original marinade and made it even yummier. Dabbed this generously over the pulled meat well before serving so it soaks right in. And that was pretty much it - dished up with baked potato & cheese, salad and gerkins..just.yum.
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